The horrible thing about healing is that it is possibly the most variable role with respect to skills you might want. In dungeons, things don't live long enough to be able to effectively use some things you can use in trials. You may very well have a different skill set for trash than for bosses when it comes to trials.

For me, it comes down to this. Which healing abilities do you NEED for the group and content? Once you have that figured out, then figure out what self and group buffs you can bring that aren't being supplied by anyone else. After that, you see what you can fill in for utility abilities like dispels, shards/orbs for resource regen, resistance debuffs, damage reduction (group buff or enemy debuff), and leech effects.

After all that, you may throw in a DoT and/or AoE so you can feel like you are helping kill stuff.

A lot will also depend on what type of groups you are running with. If you are running with an optimized and organized group, you will set up a different way than with a social group with mixed levels of optimization.

I am pretty certain the only skills on my templar that are absolutely set and are always included between different group content I have run is Healing Springs, Breath of Life, and Solar Prison. I usually run resto/destro, but have run dual resto staves to pack in every heal possible for groups that required that sort of play. You just have to tailor what you have on your bars to your group's needs.

You are going to get various differing viewpoints but ill shed some insight from my experience.

1) this varies wildly depending on content and group makeup. For example, when you become more experienced at cp cap doing vet hm dungeons, heavy sustain utility becomes far less important, so skills like orbs / shards, and ele drain become less desirable compared to skills that will contribute to clear speed and overall group damage. Optimized dps and tank builds rarely require sustain utiltiy as fights in 4 man content are far shorter. Trials on the other hand generally require full support utility accross the board. The flexible slots in this regard boil down to who is covering what buffs etc etc.

2) again depending on content and group comp the answer will vary. If you are healing 2 Nb damage dealers, combat prayer becomes less influential. Springs imho is only really mandatory in trials. Lighter, less rigid healing options are more than adequate for 4 man content. A charged lightning staff with wall of elements is generally a ln attractive healer tool for off balance uptime. An emergency burst heal, triage healing (hots, amd cheaper instant heals) and then eithet sustain utility if the group needs it or additional damage is the group is well built.

3) orbs / shards have a 30 sec synergy use cool down. Magplar dps usually run shards for aoe regardless and orbs should be thrown out accordingly around that 30 sec time.

An important note on orbs vs shards - shards can be activated by a single user per each shard cast, so its reach is more limited as far as targets go since you have to suspend a generous time of healing to provide the synergy to multiple targets whereas multiple orbs can be sent out while you can continue dpsing or healing. Shards are fast and accurate in placement vs orbs being much slower.

4) and this here is the motherlode question and the one question that tends to cause the most discourse between players. Whenever this question is posed, the responses are usually framed in a manner that has every non templar healer having to defend themselves, which is very disingenuous and misleading.

Just to get a few objective facrs out of the way. Healing throughput (hps) is relatively matched between all 5 healers even whem considering access to major and minor mending at the class available level. And the unique advantage that templar has is the access of an additional synergy for allies to use via puirfy. The shards vs orbs is a pro con and not necessarily absent when no templar healer is present. Nbs and DKs are the only 2 that are short a single synergy beyond orbs for allies. Sorcs have liquid lightning and wardens have their hippie aoe ***.

As for some defining playstyle characteristics. Dks have access to major mending via a group wide damage shield. The issue is that this shield can cause issues for dk tanks who generally have a stronger version. Its minor and is blown out of proportion imo but it should be noted. They have a good triage heal option in cuaterize and ash cloud. Their burst heal is very potent and cheap but is a bit slower and requires a hostile target. Both cauterize and obsidian shard can easily crit for over 15k the later potentially twice that.

Sorcs' access to a very strong instant burst heal come with the caveat of having to manage a specifc pet (which has gotten MUCH easier as of late) and must commit 2 bar slots for it. Outside of that, their healing is standard as most, with mutagen / springs and the usual loadout of utiltiy or dps and combat prayer. As mentioned above they can provide a synergy via liquid lightning (when dps sorcs arent present, but this is similar to magplar and shards). They and wardens share one unique perk in that they can provide minor intellect to allies. Something of note that is more common in 4 man content is that sorcs have exclusive access to providing a major berserk synergy to an ally via the atro ultimate, a nice perk for shorter boss fights.

Wardens are generally considered the next best healer to templars, but this is more of a perception thing based on wardens being the first classes added post launch and having a real "dedicating healing tree" (No, templars restoring light skill line is not). In actuality they are great healers just like the rest. One unique aspect to wardens based on ZOS' intention is delayed potency. For healers this means smart use of their aoe heal that has a delayed burst mechanic. Outside of that, most of wardens tools are aimed or conal, they have no 360 smart heal. They dont have as potent of a massive burst heal so postioning and preemptive healing is key. They, like sorcs, can provide minor intellect via a conal heal, which also provides minor endurance.

Templars, for the longest time, believed to be the intended exclusive healer of eso (for good if completely unbalanced reasons) have a lot going for them. Breath of life, while more expensive than most burst heals, and not a 360 smart heal, quick and reliable. Aoe puirfy is an additional synergy to their kit that most other healers cant really meet unless they dip into other less useful undaunted skills. And while the purify itslef isnt mandatory for most end game pve encounters, it is much easier to use than the pvp skill alternative purge, which is very expensive while more expedient in its effect. Templars have innate access to minor mending and are overall relatively straightforward. I would say from experience. they are the simplest of healers to play well mechanically. For less heay duty healing like for man vets, jabs and shards is nice aoe along side the expected wall of elements.

NBs have access to the single most powerful burst heal in the game full stop - healthy offering. The caveat here is this heal comes with a cost to the casters hp. In actuality, this price is borderline negligible (in pve) as the incoming hps completely overpowers the health dot even at 6 stacks. This ability gives NBs minor mending with near 100 percent uptime. Couple this with passives that increase healing done by 3 percent per siphon skill slotted. its easy to reach a base 9 percent increase from that alone. Once upon a time, NBs game was damage while healing. That has mostly been removed unfortunately, but does still remain in a lesser fashion. Nbs have a single target spammable, funnel health, that hits around 8 or 9k and nearly 60 percent of that (50% without healing modifiers) will tick on allies as a hot every 2 seconds. Combine that with springs / mutagen and path and you have plenty of rolling hots and a pocket burst heal to cover any needs. Nbs also have very good ult gen with potion use catalyst passive (the transfer passive also grants ult gen, but this unique perk is shared with other classes in other ways). ultimates like soul siphon are group wipe savers but rarely needed, more of a pvp boon. Since it provides a fat burst, a fat hot and major vitality to recipients.


Long post and i could have gone into more detail but ill stop it there.

Orbs have a 20s cooldown, so try send out enough for your whole group just past this cooldown. It’s fine if you end up doing it at 21-24s, just make sure it’s not at 18-19s or people will only be able to use every other wave of orbs.

One convenient way to time this is by using Elemental Drain (which is one of the most important skills for a healer to have). Ele Drain lasts 24s, and can be used as a reminder for when to throw orbs.

Honestly though, for 4 man content, orbs are often overkill if you are a Templar. You should be throwing shards every 8s, which means that each of the 3 people in your group can get synergize them every 24s. And orbs and shards share the same synergy cooldown. It’s really more for trials, with larger groups, where orbs become necessary.

I mentioned Ele Drain above, but I want to emphasize it again. Use this skill, or one of the other sources of Minor Magickasteal (restoring aura or siphon spirit). This gives back 300 magicka per second to everyone in your group, which is much more than orbs or shards can provide, and you only have to cast it once to apply to everyone.

Other than that, group buffing skills like Aggressive Warhorn and Combat Prayer are nice to have. And you can pick any 2-3 pure healing abilities to fit your play style (springs, rapid regen, breath of life, extended ritual, etc.)

RaptorRodeoGod wrote: »

Thanks for the tips so far everyone!

@Taleof2Cities , I'm thinking I'd like to start off with dungeon content to get the hang of things, but I'd eventually like to heal trials.

The DK healer sounds pretty neat. Right now I'm looking for something to practice with until Elsweyr is released; I'm very interested in making a Necromancer healer.

It sounds like to be a healer, you'd have to know your group's capabilities well. How would one prepare for a PUG dungeon run through compared to running a dungeon with an organized group?

Pve dk healer is very fun. Naga shaman works very well with them for a starting out and is very easy tk craft. Pvp wise they are still the weakest of the 5 imho, sustain is rough and while i have always championed cauterize since it became cauterize, it as well as obsidian are still not quite fast enough to save lives in a pinch.

@RaptorRodeoGod As a NB healer, I try to keep my role to be a flexible healer who can provide some off-dps..
1 + 2. I like to use the majority of the Rest skills on one bar (Combat Prayer, Mutagen, Healing Springs, and Healing Ward) I include Harness Magicka as a selfish shield spell, and the Reviving Barrier Ult.
I also like to run lightning destro on the off bar. using my Sap essence, Ele Drain, Energy Orb, Blockade of Storms, and Crushing Shock with the meteor skill or whichever ultimate you fancy.
3. I tend to throw out my orbs whenever I can assume that players are out of resources, or whenever i have some time to do so.
4. @exeeter702 Has hit the nail on the head for the NB class.. I like healing on a NB because I like the idea of being the one that is keeping my comrades alive while having some dps to push back at my enemies.

As for you @Tal_72 my main healer is, has always, or ever will be a Khajiit. It just works for me.

If you want a challenge, try stamina healer, which is only possible with warden.